


Dear Alastor

by a_t_rain



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 19:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2703890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_t_rain/pseuds/a_t_rain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class," says Moody in <i>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire</i>.  This is the letter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dear Alastor

**Author's Note:**

> This was written (just) prior to the release of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_ , and I haven't really kept up with interview and Pottermore canon since then, so some of the little details about Hogwarts students might be off. Still, I hadn't archived it elsewhere and I found that I still liked it, so up it goes. Written originally for cranberry_crash in the hpsummergen ficathon.

Dear Alastor,

I am writing to congratulate you on your appointment as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and to wish you the best of luck. I can scarcely express how pleased I was to hear that you had accepted the position. I leave Hogwarts with some sadness, but no real regret, for I know that the students will be in far more capable hands than my own, at least for the coming year. By the way, I trust Professor Dumbledore has warned you about the curse? I thought it a very good joke when I first heard the story, but I am not so sure now. However, yours is a one-year appointment, so you should be safe in any case.

I understand Dumbledore has told you about Sirius and Peter, so I may speak freely. I’m stunned, still – I should have seen it all much sooner, but I didn’t, and it has shaken everything I believe to the core. It makes me wonder how many innocent souls there are within the walls of Azkaban, to this very day. Do you ever wonder about that? I suppose Aurors _can’t_ , not if they’re to do their jobs properly. Never mind. I trust _you_ , at least, to place justice first. I’m not so sure of the rest of the Ministry.

I have left a few notes and lesson plans in the file cabinet in the corner of the office (I hope the Red Caps have not eaten them). Feel free to make use of them, although I’m sure you already have ideas of your own about how to teach the classes, and that you have far more experience with much of the material than I do. To give you some idea where we are, the seventh-year N.E.W.T. class have read Professor Hattersley’s book on the Unforgivable Curses and are now learning how to defend against dementors and Inferi, although as yet only two of them have had any practical success at producing a Patronus. The rising sixth-years have just completed O.W.L.s, very successfully in most cases, and should be ready to begin with nonverbal spells and the rest of the N.E.W.T. curriculum. The fifth-years have been learning advanced duelling spells and countercurses, and the fourth year has spent the year studying cryptozoology, including boggarts, kappas, Red Caps, hinkypunks, and grindylows. The fourth-years are a little behind on curses, and neither class has yet been told about the Unforgivables, although I understand Dumbledore would like them to be taught this material as soon as possible. The third-years finished off the year with boggarts and should be ready for hinkypunks and Red Caps, and the second-years have been learning some basic duelling spells after mastering the _Expelliarmus_ and _Protego_ charms. I began the first year with the first principles of defence and the art of recognizing a dangerous situation, and this seemed to work well.

In addition, all six classes have been subjected to an impromptu lesson on how to recognize and kill werewolves, courtesy of one of my colleagues; however, only one student seems to have fully mastered the first part of this lesson, and fortunately for me, she did not take the second part to heart.

I should like to tell you something of the individual students now. They are a clever and friendly group for the most part, and I think you will like them as much as I did.

The older of the two N.E.W.T. classes is rather small – I am afraid my predecessor did not prepare them as well as they might have done to take exams, so I was left with a core group of students who were clever and determined enough to pass anyway. Perhaps the strongest of them is Cedric Diggory, a Hufflepuff, and a genuinely kind and honourable young man as well as an exceptionally able student. I have no doubt that you and I will hear a great deal about Cedric Diggory in the coming years – he is the sort of young man who will distinguish himself in whatever he does. Penelope Clearwater of Ravenclaw is also very bright and ambitious, though perhaps too inclined to follow orders and keep her questions to herself. She was one of the Muggle-born students who was Petrified two years ago, and I think the experience has left her a bit too passive and easily intimidated.

The sixth-year N.E.W.T. class will, I think, be much larger – Professor Dumbledore informs me that the pass rate this year was outstanding. I cannot take much credit for this; most of the students are bright or hard-working, and a few even manage both. In the “bright” category are Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and Fred and George Weasley. Keep your eye on the last two (not that you need to be warned to keep your eye on anybody, but I should advise the magical one in this case). They will probably try to switch identities on you, but you can tell the difference because Fred looks at the ceiling when questioned and George has a habit of rubbing his nose. I think I surprised them a bit on the first day of class by knowing all about the Exploding Elixir trick – of course, I didn’t say exactly _how_ I knew – and after that they were all right. There are seven Weasley children; you’ll have the four youngest, I had five. All redheads, all Gryffindors. They are quite decent kids at heart and very clever, but they can be a handful. The family is not well off, and most of them are a little discontented about their poverty; the twins are perpetually trying to scam their classmates, and I get the sense that Percy, the one who has just finished school, will do literally _anything_ for the right sort of job in the Ministry.

As for the rest of the sixth-year class – Patricia Stimpson is inclined to attacks of nerves at exam time, so you might want to stock up on tea and sympathy. She and Kenneth Towler are very serious students; you won’t have much trouble with them. Clive Warrington cheats. Watch him like a hawk. Graham Montague and Adrian Pucey are a bit surly, but more intelligent than they like to admit.

Fifth year: Cormac McClaggen of Gryffindor is, frankly, a bully. Watch him. Marcus Belby of Hufflepuff is a pleasant young man, but easily intimidated and rather suggestible. Zacharias Smith, also from Hufflepuff is very intelligent, very sceptical, and has a bit of an attitude. He will mouth off, but there’s no real harm in him. I’m not sure I like the dynamic among the Ravenclaw girls. Cho Chang is the leader among them, very pretty and very popular, and Marietta Edgecombe seems to follow her in everything without being very happy about it. It’s likely silly, but she reminds me a little of Peter, and I’d like you to look out for her if you can. Roger Davies and Marissa Hardesty should be seated separately in order to prevent indecent displays of affection in class.

You’ll be wanting to know about Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, of course. You will know them both when you see them. Harry is an outstanding student with an intuitive feel for Defence. He is very like James, but with, I think, a certain sense of responsibility that James never had until our sixth or seventh year. I do not have the sense that his home life is very happy; I wish, now more than ever, that a great many things had happened differently. Neville is a nice, polite kid who lacks confidence – I think people expect him to be more like Alice and Frank than he is, and it’s a great deal to live up to. His mind is not bad, but he needs a bit more coaxing and nurturing than the others. He has kept his parents’ condition a secret from his classmates, and I think this has kept him from befriending any of them very closely. I was tempted to tell him I knew, but thought he should come to it in his own time. 

Harry’s closest friends are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Hermione is an incredibly clever student – reads constantly, top marks on all the written work I’ve assigned – though perhaps not quite as good at magic that requires imagination or intuition. Ron is really quite able, but doesn’t believe it of himself, and if he turns in an essay that looks like it was written by Hermione, it probably was. He’s a good kid, though, brave and fiercely loyal. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown are very nice girls, but inclined to pass notes under the table – I suspect your ability to see through solid wood will give you an advantage.

The Ravenclaws are a nice bunch for the most part – Terry Boot and Mandy Brocklehurst are studious and very sharp. Su Li is shy, and her English is a little shaky, so you may have to work to draw her out. Stephen Cornfoot is the only one who has me worried; he’s a prankster like the Weasley twins, but I think there’s some real viciousness behind it. I caught him setting a cage of Doxies on a first-year once. I’m sure you already know Hestia Jones’s daughter Megan; she is in Hufflepuff, as is Edgar’s niece, Susan. Susan is a sweet, rather serious girl – they are all a little too serious – one of the most sobering parts of this job is seeing how much this generation is marked by events that happened when they were babies. It may be easier for you, Alastor, because I don’t suppose you have much to reproach yourself with. I do.

The fourth-year Slytherins may give you some trouble. Draco Malfoy is the ringleader; Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson tend to follow his lead. Draco is a bright enough boy, but he has been openly hostile to me from the first day he set eyes on me. Part of this was my fault – I don’t think he was nearly as ready to cope with a boggart as he pretended – but poverty and questionable blood status are enough to make anyone _persona non grata_ with this group. (I’m absolutely sure he knew nothing _else_ about me until my last day on the job, as he made it public as soon as he did know.) Theodore Nott is a loner, and, I think, inclined to question the pureblood party line. Millicent Bulstrode is the same way, only not by choice – she’s the only half-blood student in the group, and I suspect the others are making her quite miserable, only I haven’t been able to catch them at it. Blaise Zabini is very intelligent and remarkably cynical for his age. Minerva says he’s had too many stepfathers, too many expensive toys, and too few people who care what becomes of him, and I am inclined to agree. Unfortunately, the latest stepfather is Muggle-born, and Blaise seems to be taking out his resentment by adopting the general prejudices of his peers.

In the third year, Colin Creevey is very eager and enthusiastic, to the point of being a bit of a nuisance at times, but most of the time he’s fun to have in class. Ginny Weasley, the girl who was nearly killed last year, seems to be making a good recovery. She has a ready sense of humour, which helps. I asked her if she wanted to stay back when we covered boggarts, but she stepped right up and took it on like a real little trooper. Luna Lovegood, in Ravenclaw, is a charming little girl – at least, _I_ think so. Ask her about the yeti on the Wizengamot if you want a laugh. (I learned three months into the year that her father is the editor of the _Quibbler_ – which explains a great deal that had baffled me before.) Luna wants to be a cryptozoologist when she grows up, so she spent a great deal of time in my office expounding upon her theories. They are rather unconventional, but who am I to say there are no Anthropophagal Flijjits in New Zealand? Her classmates bully her, poor kid, particularly Genevieve Harker and Peony Parkinson, so be careful whom you partner her with if you practice duelling. James Ford is a stolid, friendly boy who would probably be the safest partner for Luna.

The second-years will probably run you ragged (they did me), but they’re an enjoyable group, very enthusiastic. One exception is Romilda Vane of Gryffindor, who has a rather nasty, unscrupulous streak; she tried dissolving Acid Pops in my tea once. (I know – constant vigilance – but one _doesn’t_ expect that sort of thing from a child of eleven!) Romilda is adopted, raised by Muggles who were nearly at their wits end with her when they got the Hogwarts letter; Minerva was hoping her behaviour would improve once she was around other young witches and wizards, but it doesn’t seem to have worked yet. Paul Ryan and Matthew Pucey are a bit mischievous, and should be seated separately if possible, but there’s no harm in them.

This has been a long letter – I should let you go. Please owl me if you have any questions at all, and if you’re free over the Christmas holidays I should love to have a drink with you and catch up. I shall miss my students, though it is a relief to leave them in the hands of someone I trust, and I hope to hear how you’re getting on with them.

Best regards,  
Remus

***

He reads the letter twice, then a third time, taking careful note of Lupin’s turns of phrase, what he says and what he does not say. At last he takes up his quill and makes a list:

_Belby (?)_  
 _Edgecombe_  
 _Cornfoot_  
 _Malfoy (and Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson)_  
 _Bulstrode (?)_  
 _Zabini (?)_  
 _Vane_

Penelope Clearwater might have made the list if Lupin had not mentioned that she was Muggle-born. He pauses for a moment over the Weasley twins, but decides not to risk it. Percy, the brother who would do anything for a good job in the Ministry, would be a safer bet, but Percy is gone.

A thought strikes him, and he almost laughs aloud. It is a big risk, but pulling it off would be a coup, and it appeals to his sense of irony. Coaxing and nurturing, indeed. He adds one more name to his list.

_Longbottom._


End file.
